Best way to capture ideas whilst cycling

[rangi500]

Hello,

I cycle to work and back, so spend about an hour cycling each day. Whilst cycling I'm always thinking of ideas and things to do. I'm yet to find an effective way of capturing whilst cycling. I got a little dictaphone off eBay but it requires quite a bit of looking at to get working, so it's not ideal.

Are there any cyclists here who have the sort of problem? I'd love to hear how you've tackled it.

Any advice much appreciated!

Rangi

[ellobogrande]

When I drive I carry a small MP3 flayer/flash drive combo with voice recorder function attached to a lanyard around my neck. You can do the same on a bike. It's important to find one with a record button that you can engage easily; you don't want to try to scroll through menus to start recording while you're driving or cycling.

[Roger]

Further to the voice recorder idea, there's a number of models now that are voice-activated, which I think would make everything easy and safe.

I'm currently in the process of looking into buying one; I'll let everyone know how that ends up working out.


Cheers,
Roger

[kelstarrising]

If you do a search on bicycle, you will see other posts about this from the past few years. Like this one on Connect:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9854

It's funny, this question consistently comes up about every 6 months or so, with people suggesting phone recorders, small notepads, handlebar notepads, etc.

[mmurray]

Further to the voice recorder idea, there's a number of models now that are voice-activated, which I think would make everything easy and safe.

I'm currently in the process of looking into buying one; I'll let everyone know how that ends up working out.


Cheers,
Roger

What happens when someone cuts you off in a car and you curse them? Does that get saved

Michael

[mmurray]

What about something like this

http://imesart.com/products.php?pid=1

for an iPhone. I think you would be able to record using the mike on the earbuds and keep the iPhone in a pocket. Not sure how this one loads up the memos. Email would be simplest but I think this has the typical iPhone webdev server system.

Do the stand alone voice recorders come with microphone / earbuds ?

Michael

[rangi500]

What about something like this

http://imesart.com/products.php?pid=1

for an iPhone. I think you would be able to record using the mike on the earbuds and keep the iPhone in a pocket. Not sure how this one loads up the memos. Email would be simplest but I think this has the typical iPhone webdev server system.

Do the stand alone voice recorders come with microphone / earbuds ?

Michael

I love the iPhone but touch-screen devices in general aren't great for using without looking, especially as getting to any app usually requires 4 gestures:

1. Wake up (pressing the round button in below the screen)
2. Unlock (sweep finger across screen)
3. Go to home page (press round button - usually necessary, as by default you see the last app you were using)
4. Click on the app you're trying to get to and wait for it to load

(then there's usually a few clicks within your app to do the desired thing)

It might work well if it was voice activated though, as then I could set it up on standby at the start of my ride and use the standard headphones with mic to record. However it looks like it's not voice activated sadly.

Also, I usually listen to audiobooks (in one ear) whilst cycling, so the app would need to work well with the iPod app running at the same time.

For anything voice-activated, I think it would take a while to build up my trust in the system, to be completely confident that simply talking would definitely set off the recording.

[rangi500]

When I drive I carry a small MP3 flayer/flash drive combo with voice recorder function attached to a lanyard around my neck. You can do the same on a bike. It's important to find one with a record button that you can engage easily; you don't want to try to scroll through menus to start recording while you're driving or cycling.

Hi ellobogrande, would you recommend your voice recorder then? What model is it? I got one off eBay which was advertised as a "one button recorder", but in reality you have to switch it on my holding down a button, wait 5 seconds for it to come on, check the screen to make sure it's on, press the record button once, look at the screen to make sure it's recording, speak, then press the record button again to stop recording!

What I'd really like is a recorder I could hang around my neck with a big, easy to feel, "push in" button. When the button is pushed in, the device would be recording. When letting go of the button, the recording would stop. Actually, it would be amazing if when you let go of the button, it stopped recording then emailed you a transcript of what you'd said!

[ellobogrande]

Hi ellobogrande, would you recommend your voice recorder then? What model is it? I got one off eBay which was advertised as a "one button recorder", but in reality you have to switch it on my holding down a button, wait 5 seconds for it to come on, check the screen to make sure it's on, press the record button once, look at the screen to make sure it's recording, speak, then press the record button again to stop recording!

What I'd really like is a recorder I could hang around my neck with a big, easy to feel, "push in" button. When the button is pushed in, the device would be recording. When letting go of the button, the recording would stop. Actually, it would be amazing if when you let go of the button, it stopped recording then emailed you a transcript of what you'd said!

I was using a Trio MP3 combo flash drive/mp3 player/voice recorder, but not only is it not *quite* what I had hoped for it's also beginning to fail. I've got a project open to replace it with something else. I'll let you know what I settle upon when I find one.

[ellobogrande]

I was using a Trio MP3 combo flash drive/mp3 player/voice recorder, but not only is it not *quite* what I had hoped for it's also beginning to fail. I've got a project open to replace it with something else. I'll let you know what I settle upon when I find one.

I settled upon Sony IC Recorder model ICD-BX700, available at TigerDirect for $30. I did a search for voice recorders sorted by price and this was the first voice recorder (not a USB drive/mp3 player/voice recorder combo) that showed up. Unlike the combo devices this recorder has a record button on it (you don't want to scroll through menus while driving or cycling to find the record function) and is more versatile than the combo devices. For example, you can set the microphone sensitivity to record dictations up close or record a meeting in a conference room.

The only downside to this model is the lack of USB support. You can't download the recordings to a computer. That was not a critical feature for me. Sony makes a similar voice recorder that does have USB support; it just costs more than I wanted to pay.